Lens culinaria is said to be the oldest pulse in cultivation, and originated in the Middle East. I have never grown it, but a few catalogs, including Sand Hill Preservation, offer seed of various kinds. It is a cool-season crop, like peas.
I smiled to see that the acclaimed restaurateur and cookbook author Yotam Ottolenghi (author of “Plenty” and “Jerusalem”) was in a similarly lentil-mad state this first month of the New Year, according to his latest column in “The Guardian” newspaper. He calls them “the ultimate comfort food,” and shares two recipes – the hummus-like Crushed Puy Lentils with Tahini and Cumin, and also Lentils with Mushrooms and Preserved Lemon Ragout. (Get out your metric weight converter to get the measurements right if you’re cooking on this side of the Atlantic.)
The dish that was sleeping in my freezer was not Ottolenghi’s, though, but one-third of a batch of a great one I’d found on TheKitchn [dot] com almost exactly a year ago. I guess January makes cooks everywhere think of lentils. It’s by contributor Anjali Prasertong, a food writer and graduate student who says she is “obsessed with vegetables,” and is studying to be a registered dietitian after shifting from her career as a personal chef. And this:Anjali just announced today on her
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